The Ones We Hold CLose
by Makori
Summary: What if Hayes, Lumpy, and Choy had all survived? What if Carl had been able to bring back his documentary? Would Kong be left on the island? Or would Carl still capture him for more profit?


(A/N: I'm gonna make this short. The story goes from the sailor's point of view after the swamp scene, which was deleted from the movie in theaters, to the end of the chasm. No one important dies. Enjoy! Please? Hides behind Kong)

Chapter 1

Hayes was wet, but he wasn't by any means cold. The jungle had to be at least 80 degrees. It was more like he was back in America, during summertime. The few sailors that had survived the stampede AND the swamp were following him as he walked along the rim of a canyon, looking for a way across. So far, their dead were six, and Bruce Baxter had run off with two more men. The bastard. Jimmy was tailing along right behind him, with Jack following Jimmy. Lumpy and Choy were somewhere near the back of the line, quietly arguing about something, but occasionally Hayes would hear slips of 'Charlie Atlas' and 'perfect manhood training'. Oh, yeah. That body-building course Choy went through. The Chinese man spent just about all of his free time reading magazines. He'd found the ad and sent in for a book on how to get good muscles in seven days. Lumpy thought it was worthless, but Hayes had started to notice that Choy was becoming tougher. About time they got more muscle around here. For the fourth time, Jimmy trod on the back of Hayes' feet, looked down, and muttered an apology. Hayes shook his head. Kids almost never learned. Looking up, Hayes spotted a log laying across the canyon, making a natural bridge. Some of the other sailors noticed it too, and picked up the pace. Hayes looked at the log. It was long, thick, and absolutely covered in moss. They'd have to be careful.

Stepping onto the log, Hayes shouted back "Everyone watch your footing! This thing is slippery!"

It was about halfway across that Hayes noticed something peculiar. On the other side of the canyon was a stone tunnel. That wasn't unusual. Half the island was covered in manmade ruins. What was strange was that a flock of bats had just flown out in a panic. _Running from something_ Hayes thought. _But what?_ Putting up his hand, he watched as the sailors, Jack, and Jimmy, all stopped and realized what he had.

Taking his Tommy gun off his shoulder, Hayes turned to Jimmy and said "If anything happens, I want you to run. Understand?"

Jimmy stood up a little straighter, looked Hayes right in the eye, and said "I ain't a coward. I ain't gonna run."

Figures. The kid was always trying to make sure he lived up to Hayes' standards.

"It's not about being brave Jimmy," Hayes said, ending the argument right there.

Jimmy looked uneasy, but Hayes turned away and stepped forward. He could feel every one of the sailor's eyes on his back, watching him. He felt his gut clench into a knot as he stepped up to the tunnel entrance, his finger on the trigger. For a few seconds, he heard and saw nothing. Then he heard it. The thuds of something heavy, and then…a familiar, echoing roar. Immediately, Hayes knew what he had to do.

Looking back, he started backing away from the tunnel, shouting "Go back! Back across the log!"

He could see Jimmy struggling to get over to him and yelled "Get Jimmy outta here!"

Jack pulled Jimmy back as Hayes started running, firing his gun back at the tunnel, panic and adrenaline replacing the energy he'd lost. He could hear the bullets, some ricocheting off the walls, some burying into flesh, and he could hear the beast coming closer, and he stopped, right at the log. He pulled the trigger again, but the Tommy gun was out of ammo. Frantic, he threw it down and reached for his pistol, his fingers scrabbling over the leather of the holster. The 20 foot gorilla finally burst from the darkness, roaring, as Hayes pulled his pistol out and aimed. He fired once, and Kong's massive fist swooped towards him. But before the gorilla's hand could scoop him up, there came a burst of gunfire, and several bullets thudded into the ape's hand, which withdrew in shock. Hayes glanced back over his shoulder as he backed onto the log. Jimmy was working the bolt on his rifle, and Jack was jamming a new magazine into his Tommy gun.

"Shoot him!" shouted Jimmy, firing again, and everyone complied.

Hayes made sure he was back on the log before firing again and again, each time aiming for Kong's face. His pistol only had six shots, he only had a few clips for it, and he didn't want to waste them. One would've thought the sailors would've killed Kong, if not for the fact that the giant ape slammed one of the roots protruding from the log, making the bridge shake. Everyone was suddenly shaken around, in danger of falling into the misty darkness. Kong twisted the log again, and one of the sailors DID fall off, his scream being cut off as his head hit the canyon wall. Hayes jammed a new clip inhis pistoljust as Kong grabbed his end of the log and twisted. Several more sailors fell off, but those left clung on tight. Hayes grabbed Jimmy and held onto a thick branch. Jack had hold of one of the roots, and the other sailors were scrambling for handholds. Denham's infernal camera was stuck in a root stump, and the maniac was trying to get to it. There came more gunfire as Lumpy, clutching to a branch with one hand, fired his Tommy gun with the other.

"Lumpy! Help me!" shouted Choy, as he began to fall.

"Oh, bloody hell! Choy!" shouted the Englishman as he grabbed for his friend.

He managed to fire off a few more rounds before throwing the Tommy gun aside, but it was enough. The bullets hit Kong in the face, and the ape flinched and blinked, trying to get rid of the pain. Lumpy managed to pull Choy back up before Kong roared again, as if bored, and simply threw the log over the lip of the canyon. The log began falling, falling, falling, and the last thing Hayes remembered before the log caught and everyone fell was seeing Jimmy, scared but alive, clutching the branch, Lumpy and Choy hanging onto a root, and Preston grabbing a vine. Then, with a large _thud_, the log caught on a rock shelf, and everyone left fell about ten feet, hitting the bottom of the canyon.

Jack woke up to Carl's groaning. His head was ringing, but he could see. And what he saw was-blackness. Well, not completely. But that was one bad thing. He could hear scrapes as he heard things moving in the darkness around them. Getting up slowly, he spied a large insect leg poking out of a hole, than another, than another. Reaching into his pack, he pulled out a flare and lit it, tossing it. The canyon floor was lit up with white light, and the giant insects scrambled back down their holes. Jack could see Lumpy helping Choy up out of some mud, Hayes checking Jimmy for injuries, and Carl, laying there, groaning. But even worse, he could see the bodies of all the other sailors. Williams, Smiggens, even tough old Harding. All dead. All because of him.

Nudging Carl in the side with his foot, he said "C'mon Carl, get up."

Carl just groaned more and waved him away, so Jack complied.

Walking over to Hayes, Jimmy, Lumpy, and Choy, he said "He'll be alright. He was never that physically fit."

Lumpy glared daggers at Carl, who was now getting up onto his feet. Hayes picked up a few guns and said "Everyone still got ammo?" Nods from everyone except Carl.

"Good, 'cause I found some guns."

Hayes passed out Tommy guns to them, saying "No rifles. We need something that packs a punch times fifty, andwith what we've seen, I don't think any of us want to be slowed dow nwith working the bolt."

He turned to Jimmy with a look of trust on his face. Jimmy just smiled and loaded a magazine into the machine gun.

"NO!"

Everyone turned back to Carl. He was standing now, and what they saw put everyone in freeze frame. The Bell & Howell was safe still. It had landed in some muck, and was safely back in the director's arms. But Carl was backing away from something, a look of pure terror on his face. The flare was going out. Carl scrambled back to them, practically throwing the camera down and grabbing another Tommy gun, waving it wildly around. Apparently, his priorities had changed. The light slowly faded. The flare had gone out. The giant insects crawled from the darkness again. Crickets the size of dogs, spiders the size of horses, and who knows what else. All everyone knew was that there were a lot of them. And they were coming from everywhere.

(I just love cliffhangers, don't you? Anyway, I'm working on chapter 2, it should be out by the end of the week. Please say nice stuff in the reviews!)


End file.
